Special Feature
This is a video report about
World Business: A couple of
years ago, with surging
demand for biofuel from
Europe and riding crude oil
prices, investors rushed to
build plants to turn palm oil
into biodiesel. But with
falling oil prices and
changing opinions towards
biofuel many of those
projects were put on hold.
To adapt, biofuel producers
now have to be a little more
creative.
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Biodiesel in Philippines |
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The Philippine Coconut Authority has launched a nation-wide program in 2001 to use coconut oil biodisel as an alternative fuel. Subsequently, the following policies have been initiated to support the developmet of "Coco-Bidiosel": -
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Promulgation of Philippine National Standards for Coco-biodiesel (May 2003)
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Memorandum Circular No. 55 directing all departments, bureaus, office and instrumentalities of the government to incorporate the use of 1% by volume coconut methyl ester in their diesel requirement (Feb 2004)
When used as a biofuel, coconut oil has its pros and cons. It contains 45 - 53% lauric acid, a saturated short-chain fatty acid (12:0) with high level of oxygen. This will result in better combustion and hence lower emission levels. However, on the other hand, it also leads to lower energy contents and hence lower engine performance as compared to regular diesel fuel and bidiesel made from other feedstock.
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